SA nuclear deal: No agreement with Russia to provide energy

The deal that rocked the nation...

Jeff Radebe, chairperson of the Interministerial Committee (IMC), said that a deal for the South African Post Office to take over the social grant payment system will be done by Friday.

During the final period of the Jacob Zuma years, the constant back and forth over a dodgy nuclear deal we had agreed with Russia was firmly in the spotlight. SA simply didn’t have the money but government didn’t seem to care.

Fast forward to over 100 days into the Cyril Ramaphosa Presidency and the deal now seems to be dead in the water.

On Sunday, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe told eNCA that SA no longer had an agreement with Russia to procure nuclear energy. According to the minister, a 2017 decision from the High Court invalidated whatever nuclear deal was struck at the time.

Question marks were again raised last week as Deputy President David Mabuza carried out an official visit to the Russian Federation.

“That question was decided by the high court in the Western Cape last year, where the submission of the intergovernmental agreement of Russia, the United States and South Korea was tested in court. The court decided the submission was unconstitutional, unlawful and set it aside.”

Radebe did admit that there was an “Intergovernmental Agreement” that had been signed in Russia by former Energy Minister David Mahlobo. Those agreements, however, could not come into place unless they were ratified by Parliament.

“If you mean by deal that there was a contract for us to procure nuclear, there is nothing like that, but there was a cooperation agreement signed by the former minister of energy which has now been set aside by the courts,” said Radebe.

The minister also stressed that the South African government did not appeal the Western Cape High Court’s judgement that the deal was unconstitutional.

The one uncertainty that remains is how the Russian government views any deal that was rejected by our courts. While Mabuza’s visit was a good sign for keeping the peace, the Russians may soon be asking for “payment” in other ways.